Okay. So, a staple in shojo manga series is to eventually introduce some sort of love triangle conflict. The goal is to add a little drama to possibly add a “will they or won’t they” element to the story. Does it get annoying? Absolutely! Especially when it’s dragged out. Volume 4 of The Small-Animallike Lady is Adored by the Ice Prince manga continues that type of plot line from the third one, but Hisui doesn’t drag the situation out and instead introduces the mature and realistic approach of Lily and Prince William actually talking to work it out.

Editor’s Note: There will be some spoilers for volume 4 of The Small-Animallike Lady is Adored by the Ice Prince manga below.

 The conflict in the third volume of The Small-Animallike Lady is Adored by the Ice Prince manga stemmed from a visit by the princess of the kingdom of Belluno, Marianne. She came to the kingdom of Zavanni for a visit and, throughout much of that installment monopolized Prince William’s time so his fiance Liliana was left to her own devices. When secretly exploring outside of the palace in disguise with guards, Lily ran into the two of them together, with Marianne hanging on Will’s arm. This led to mistaken impressions of the situation, which carried over to the initial issue in this volume. However, instead of dragging it out, things are handled in an actually mature manner.

While the outset of this volume offers are first view of the situation from Marianne’s perspective, confirming she did come to the country to drive a wedge and become Will’s new fiance as some suspected and Lily assumed after seeing them together, it quickly gets into practical advice and proper communication. When Will is lamenting Lily’s behavior and anger, his guard and even Princess Marianne both say he needs to talk to her. Though it is awkward between the engaged couple when they do come together in the next scene, both of them don’t drag out this mistaken situation. Will apologizes and explains, as does Lily. (Though she does freak out a bit momentarily thinking his apology is because he intends to break their own engagement.)

As a result, we get to see how productive conversations between a couple we know love each other works out. The two of them explain themselves. The set a time for another date, which shows their commitment to each other. Then when they go out, which also involves scouting a location for a school Lily wants to build for children in the city, they’re completely focused on the task and each other.

What’s interesting, however, is volume 4 of the The Small-Animallike Lady is Adored by the Ice Prince manga also shows how communication helps the situation between Lily and Princess Marianne too. After the “crisis” is over, it still seems the foreign royal isn’t entirely giving up on her plan, since she at the time sees it as the only recourse to aid her own country during a salinity crisis. When the two of them get a chance to properly talk upon the opening of the finished school and classroom, it leads to new revelations between them and a possible positive relationship.

Which is great, as it all comes back to The Small-Animallike Lady is Adored by the Ice Prince being a shojo manga that focuses on positivity. It’s sweet! It’s funny! The leads generally care for and respect each other! Now with this volume, we see they handle issues responsibly and with clear communication. It’s lovely to see.

Volumes 1-4 of The Small-Animallike Lady is Adored by the Ice Prince are available now, and Yen Press will release volume 5 of the manga on July 28, 2026.

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Even a Replica can Fall in Love is a essentially a manga about a doppleganger or tulpa situation, pairing existential questioning with romantic connotations. While happy, perhaps even joyful and loving, moments can appear, they’re always tinged with trauma and the specter of what could happen if an individual disappears. As a result, it can feel like the situations involving Sunao Aikawa, her replica Second (that eventually goes by Nao), and their classmate Shuuya Sanada are always a moment away from tearing at your heartstrings in the first volume of this series.

Editor’s Note: There will be some minor spoilers for the first volume of the Even a Replica can Fall in Love manga below.

The story begins with a brief explanation and refresher. Sunao has been able to summon up a replica of herself since she was a child, ever since she first did so this tulpa could make up with her friend Ritsuko for her after a fight. When she does, that entity has all of her memories up to that moment. Sunao only calls her “Second” and does nothing for her quality of life or benefit despite the double needing to eat and sleep. She even doesn’t believe Second has feelings. And so her replica doesn’t get to sleep in a bed, have breakfast, keep any money, or basically own anything. 

This replica eventually refers to herself as Nao, and she considers her whole life to be in service to the person who spawned her. While Sunao’s actions suggest she’s nothing and Nao seems to have internalized that, she clearly is her own individual with her own personality. But even though she may want to do things, like create her own novels or enjoy certain activities, she feels she isn’t able to. Especially since Sunao could decide to be rid of her and make her not exist with no notice. So right away, it’s really sad to see this vivacious young woman who does enjoy life and have her own sense of self consider herself to be… nothing. 

Things start to change when a classmate named Shuuya Sanada returns after an injury kept him out of school for a while recovering. He shows an interest in Nao on the days when she’s filling in for Sunao. He even joins the literature club she’s in, becoming its third member. She’s clearly fascinated with him and even feels bad that she never visited him in the hospital. So much so that we see she’s starting to want to see him and get excited about the prospect.

That, of course, is in jeopardy after Sunao returns to school. She criticizes Nao for her actions toward Shuuya and tells her to watch out. To the point where Nao tries to pass it off to him as her being temperamental some days and saying he should only talk to her when she has her hair up. And after a critical couple events in the volume, we see Sunao isn’t above “punishing” her replica by sending her away. So just when we see Nao getting to live and enjoy things a bit, she’s reminded of her nature. 

But there are hints of another side to it all too. The fact that Sunao is so readily and often relying on a replica is a serious sign of depression. She’s avoiding life and staying in her room, in bed, instead of getting out and facing things. During one of her altercations with her second, we get hints that this sort of life is damaging to her and not making her mental health situation any better. 

Even a Replica can Fall in Love feels like a manga and series designed to constantly make you feel sorry for its characters and hope for the best for them. Nao is a second and replica, and it seems her self esteem is so low that she can’t even dare to imagine actually living her own life. Sunao seems incredibly depressed, and she’s using her double and even abusing her to avoid life. Shuuya seems perplexed and interested in Nao, but perhaps like he’s treated poorly by Sunao on days when she actually shows up. It’s the start of a potentially tragic love story. 

Volume 1 of Even a Replica can Fall in Love is available via Yen Press, and volume 2 of the manga will appear on June 23, 2026. The company also handles the original light novel adaptation. An anime version is in development and expected to debut in 2026. 

The post Even a Replica Can Fall in Love Manga Is Heartbreaking  appeared first on Siliconera.

The D.N.Angel manga release ended up a bit troubled outside Japan. See, it started out as a Tokyopop series. So when that company cut it off, physical copies ended at volume 13. Viz Media then had it on its app for a while digitally! …But again, nothing appeared past 14. Now we’re in a situation when it is Yen Press to the rescue, as it announced D.N.Angel New Editionat Sakura Con 2025. It’s a well-deserved return, with a lavish omnibus volume that inspires me with hope that this time around, Yukiru Sugisaki’s series will get the treatment it deserves.

So the first thing to know going in to this is that D.N.Angel New Editionisn’t just the first volume of the manga. We’re getting all of volume one, all of volume two, and much of volume three. (That’s Chapters 1-8, to be specific.) It’s also a little larger than the original release, as it’s over eight inches by almost six inches, rather than seven and a half by five. So it’s bigger in two ways. It does allow a little better look at the linework and shading, so it’s a nice perk.

The bump in quality for the cover and a pull-out insert also feels like a fun tribute to the 28-year-old series. The front cover has Daisuke Niwa in a suit and a falling card in his right hand, with Wiz on his shoulder. The pull-out immediately after the front cover is a “clean” version of it without the cover details. There’s a glossy finish to it, which I appreciate, and someone could pull it out to use as a mini-poster.

Yen Press also noted that when it’d prepare the D.N.Angel New Editionvolumes, there would be color pages of the manga throughout. I sort of expected this to only apply to the first few pages of the introduction and the final pages, due to a social media  post showing some of pages at launch. But there’s more to it here, which I appreciated. The first three pages, including a full-color spread of Daisuke. Ahead of each chapter, there are some minimalistic color renditions of the pages. So before chapter 2 starts, we see Dark. They’re very well handled and in some cases feature some really intricate coloring. The image of Daisuke in a scarf at sunset as snow is starting to fall ahead of chapter 7 is a perfect example of the quality of those color illustrations. 

It almost feels like Yen Press is trying to make up for lost time with the D.N.Angel New Edition manga release. It’s a great size tome that covers multiple volumes. The print quality is well-done, especially with the color images ahead of chapters. The pull-out of the cover art is a nice touch. After what we went through waiting for a proper physical run of it outside Japan, it feels like it is finally getting the release it deserves.

Volume 1 of the D.N.Angel New Editionmanga is available now, and Yen Press will release volume 2 on February 24, 2026.

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